If you've consumed any news over the last few days, you've seen the horrifying images of the fatbergs that have been found in London's sewers.

These disgusting masses of congealed grease and all manner of other matter have solidified and blocked up Joseph Bazalgette's network of tunnels on which the capital has depended since the mid-19th century.

You may have thought that such an affliction could only affect big cities, and that you would not find such lubricant leviathans in the West Country.

But you'd be wrong.

Wet wipes have combined with grease to produce this fatberg, found in Yeovil (Image: Metro Rod Dorset)

Metro Rod Dorset, which tackles sewage problems across Somerset and Dorset, has released images of two recent fatbergs which were extracted - one from near Yeovil and one from near Gillingham.

While neither is as big as their gruesome London cousins (the largest of which weighed the same at 11 double-decker buses), both have caused big problems for the local network thanks to a combination of grease and wet wipes.

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A company spokesperson said: "Our engineers deal with blockages caused in this way on almost daily, and the problems seems to be getting worse.

"We can expertly deal with this kind of blockage using techniques such as high-pressure jetting to clear any build up, and even drainage repair if necessary, but we’d also like to help educate people and try to lessen the damage caused in this way.

"This is also costing the UK's economy a huge amount to deal with, not to mention the inconvenience and potential health risks caused by drain blockages and overflows, so we urge you all to put wipes in to the bin after use and to put any fat, oil and grease into a container before also disposing of it in to the bin."

When the fat and grease cools as it travels down the pipes, it congeals and then combines with the non-biodegradable products such as wipes with an inevitable congealed build up, producing a fatberg.

Water UK, which represents all the UK's main water and sewerage companies, recently stated that wet wipes make up 93 per cent of all materials which cause sewer blockages.

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